outsideinsights
Let’s GoHike!
Creating an introductory hiking course By Christina Buckman, Liz McNett Crowl, and Lori Heath, GoHike Leaders
Photo by Jenelle Barkley.
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t 50, Liz McNett Crowl started hiking. She met Dave on a guided snowshoe trip of Mount Baker who, through a fateful invitation, would become her hiking mentor. They hiked together for years throughout the North Cascades, exploring places like Yellow Aster Butte and beautiful alpine ridges. Then, Dave moved out of state. That’s when Liz discovered The Mountaineers, exploring longer-distance hiking in our Conditioning Hiking Series. Christina Buckman remembers when she first started hiking. She was plagued by feelings that she wasn’t fit enough or that she would be the one to slow the group down. Christina continued hitting the trail anyway, eventually finding an encouraging community within The Mountaineers. Compelled to give back, Christina became a hike leader with the goal of providing body positivity and inclusiveness on her hikes. Liz and Christina have both been active Mountaineers leaders for years, and noticed a gap in education for those just beginning to hit the trail. They wanted to create a program to help more people, especially newcomers, feel belonging on the trail.
The origins of GoHike In late 2019, after several conversations about the need for an introductory hiking program, Liz, Christina, and Cheryl
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mountaineer | spring 2022
Talbert, Foothills Branch Super Volunteer and backpack leader, put their heads together. The result was the GoHike: Beginning Hiking Series Course. Lori Heath, Foothills Branch Communications Committee member, later joined the team to provide support with registration coordination. Their intention was to create a gateway program to help participants break through the hurdles keeping them from realizing their hiking goals. These volunteer leaders wanted to offer a space for community, inclusiveness, diversity, and body positivity. GoHike was launched in March 2021, and was met with enthusiasm. From April to September 2021, 13 hike leaders led a total of 92 hikes for the inaugural GoHike Course, rewarding 24 hikers with a GoHike Badge. An online orientation session set expectations and introduced students to the essentials of hiking, including preparation, safety, and general fitness tips. The course was designed to steadily increase distance, mileage, and knowledge for the GoHIke students. To graduate from the course and earn a GoHike Badge, students were required to complete at least one hike per month from April through September and complete the Low Impact Recreation Course. The first month’s hike options ranged from 2-4 miles with less than 500 feet of elevation gain. Hikes with increasing distance and elevation were added each month, culminating in hikes of up to 8 miles and 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Although a steady progression of mileage and elevation was offered,
